Our Brand Is Crisis (2015)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Best movie ever!

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

(Originally reviewed: 06/01/2017) Here is a picture with mistaken identity, is it trying to be a comedy or a drama? Nonetheless it's adequately passable and I have no regrets having seen it. Sandra Bullock is very good as per usual and so is Billy Bob Thornton who sports a bold shiny head as her election team's staff rival. These two actors play off of each other rather nicely and the performances all round are somewhat decent as well, this includes Anthony Mackie, Joaquim de Almeida and Zoe Kazan and Renaldo Pacheco; although I did not care for the characters of Scoot McNairy and Ann Dowd. Furthermore I enjoyed a couple of well put together scenes such as when Bullock goes a little crazy and seems to be having a lot fun, such as pranking Thornton's character and assaulting a police officer while intoxicated. Unfortunately the picture has problems though; such as a real lack of decent jokes including an animal being struck by a moving vehicle, where Bullock's character says "it's like he would rather kill himself, rather than be in one of our commercials", this was not to my liking as they have to use an animal's suffering to get some cheap laughs which ultimately fell flat just like a good few jokes in this picture. Moreover I didn't care for some real bland dialogue either and not knowing whether it believes itself to be a comedy or a serious picture which I'm positive I already previously stated. However the real problem is the last 10 to 15 minutes which are stupid, meaningless and make little sense and sum up the picture as it truly is, a mediocre, if passable Picture that works more as a drama than a comedy but all in all, it does not work well enough to deserve a recommendation.

In 2002, Bolivian politician Pedro Gallo hires American James Carville's political consulting firm, Greenberg Carville Shrum, to help him win the 2002 Bolivian presidential election. GCS brings in Jane Bodine to manage the campaign in Bolivia. Battling her arch nemesis, the opposition's political consultant Pat Candy, Bodine successfully uses American political campaign strategies to lead Gallo to victory against Victor Rivera. With a fantastic performance by Sandra Bullock and a good supporting cast Our Brand Is Crisis dives into the heart of Politics and shows in a perfect way how a Politician takes power and when he finally wins he lets his people and his country down.

The film was okay, but you have already seen it. This is the same old story where in America, the presidential running candidates do everything they can to win the precious votes, but here it takes place in a different country. Not bad actually, but disappointment is the American influence. Now I tell the truth that it was inspired by the real event. There's already a documentary film made, but now they altered it little and made a political-comedy.The two campaign runners from the United States goes to Bolivia to aide two different candidates and becomes themselves confront once again. To gain the momentum, they have to go any length, so the fun begins when each others pull their legs. But who's going to stand ultimately and with what tactic is to be revealed in the next half of the film.I think, except the American characters dominance, the film was refreshing like the locations, supporting cast wise. But actors like Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton et cetera holds the key. Obviously the star power is one reason and the other is for keeping the real event's touch. The film does not work for everyone, it did do nothing for me. The director of 'Pineapple Express' failed to deliver. But it was a bad screenplay, underdeveloped or maybe lacks some good lines and strong scenes. I totally suggest you to skip it, you would miss nothing.5.5/10

As a big fan of director David Gordon Green due to his unique approach and memorable films like Pineapple Express and Joe, as well as the fantastically irreverent HBO comedy classic Eastbound and Down, I was willing to put aside all the negative reactions aimed at Green's latest big screen venture (or direct to disc here in Australia) Our Brand is Crisis and hopefully enjoy my time in his Bolivian set political satire, but sadly the negative response to this unengaging experience was entirely warranted.Perhaps the most "normal" film Green has ever produced, Crisis sees the sometime indie (Prince Avalanche) sometime mainstream filmmaker (eww Your Highness and The Sitter) restrain himself other than a few brief moments of random occurrences (an escaped lama and a dance scene that will remind many of Kenny Powers dance moves) and it's to the detriment of Crisis's based on a true story tale that Green can't inject his usual flavour to the tale of political campaigns and truth and lies as the film needed an extra boost of originality and energy its name cast can't deliver.At one stage billed as a possible star vehicle for Sandra Bullock to once more feature at the Academy Awards ceremony, Crisis gives Bullock the seemingly award baiting role as presidential campaign manager with a number of personnel issues "Calamity" Jane but Bullock can't save the film despite her commitment to the cause and while Green is usually a fine commander of the support cast he wastes potentially interesting side characters in the form of Anthony Mackie's barely noticeable Ben, Scoot McNairy's highly strung Buckley and Billy Bob Thornton's bald shining dome in the form of Jane's rival campaign manager Pat Candy.It almost seems as if the cast didn't know what they were aiming for, dark political satire? Sombre political statement maker? Or perhaps even a cautionary tale of America getting involved in things they shouldn't well be involved in? Missing the mark by quite a large margin, Our Brand is Crisis is easily Green's weakest project in sometime that so easily could've been something quite special had its potential been realised in any number of facets and in wasting a fine cast in a tale that's anything but engaging, this awkward film is highly unlikely to score well in the polls.1 ½ escaped lamas out of 5